Ontario riding flips to Liberals after validation process

An Elections Canada logo is shown on Tuesday, Aug 31, 2021. Ontario's Milton East–Halton Hills South riding has flipped to the Liberals after a vote-validation process. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA — Ontario’s Milton East—Halton Hills South riding has flipped to the Liberals after a vote validation process.

Elections Canada’s validated results indicate that Liberal candidate Kristina Tesser Derksen received 32,130 votes, while Conservative candidate Parm Gill received 32,101 votes — a difference of 29 votes.

Preliminary results showed that Gill had won the riding with 32,186 votes, with Tesser Derksen coming in second with 31,888 votes — a difference of 298 votes.

The validated results indicate there were 412 rejected ballots in the riding.

Elections Canada spokesperson Matthew McKenna says the validation process involves a returning officer examining the record of votes counted at polling stations to catch and correct any data entry or calculation errors in a riding.

McKenna says a recount happens automatically if the difference in votes between the first- and second-place candidates is within one one-thousandth of the total number of votes received.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2025